"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
God desires that we bear fruit in our lives. Personally, I struggle with some of the foregoing fruit and have been praying and studying about it. We cannot increase these fruit in our lives on our own, only with the help of the Holy Spirit. But, don't you know you should be careful what you ask for? When you seek God's help in an area where you are struggling, He is going to put you to the test. Our faith is like a muscle and the only way to build muscle is to train it. The tests we go through train us for this thing called life. It's funny, we ask God for something and when we are faced with the test, we tend to kick, scream, and cry or shy away because what we go through seems too difficult sometimes. We forget that we have to go through something to get the thing we ask for. One of the fruit-bearing areas in which I lack greatly is patience. I often pray to God to help me when it comes to being patient with my children and just with people in general and, without fail, almost always right after I finish that prayer I get faced with a test! I forget all about what I just asked God to help me with and the firework show begins. My fuse tends to be very short and once all the fussing is over a little voice in my head reminds me of the patience I was seeking and I think about how I just completely failed the test with flying colors!! I try not to fret too long because I know that I will surely be re-tested and pray that I get right the next time.
I've been unemployed just over a month now and face yet another test of faith. I've had to face unemployment before and I've even faced homelessness. God brought me through some tough trials, so I know how able He is. I've been telling myself that I've got this. I know what God can do. I trust Him. He will provide....He's done it before, He'll do it again. But of course, God is going to try my faith and trust? To date, all my bills have been paid and all has been well but now money is running out and almost gone. When the bills come due this month, I do not know how they're going to get paid. But I trust God and His plan and His timing, right? I had the opportunity to submit my resume for an employment opportunity that is all that I had prayed for. I was so excited about meeting this woman and finding out when I would begin to work again. I've been praising God in advance since I read the job description and submitted my resume, claiming my job before I received it. I finally get to meet with this woman today and turns out I won't start working for about another THREE WEEKS! Really Lord? Of course, my human reaction is to begin to wonder how in the world I'm going to pay these upcoming bills...but then my spirit reminds me of the patience I've been praying for. I'm reminded of how much I say I trust and depend on God, how much faith I have in Him. Well, now it's time for that faith to be put to work!! I believe that God is preparing me for the greater things that He has in store for me. I've surrendered myself to God and told Him to break me and mold me into the woman that He has destined for me to be...that requires a process. I wavered just a bit, but once I got home I went into my closet and began to praise God. I read scriptures that reminded me of who He is and how He works. I reminded myself of how much God loves me and how He truly wants nothing but greatness for me, but I have to be prepared to receive that greatness. He knows exactly what I need and He is going to make sure I get it.
As I have been walking with God these last couple of years, I have come to learn that my Christian walk is not to get to a particular destination in this life time. This walk is a life-long journey. I already know where my final destination will be--in heaven with God. This journey I'm on is to prepare me for the day we meet. This journey is full of lessons He wants me to learn so that I grow spiritually in order to glorify Him and bear fruit for Him. If I keep my eyes on Him and not on my circumstances, He will keep me grounded and help me to produce the fruit He desires. I think that sometimes we may learn a lesson, but since we haven't used the principles learned from that lesson in a while God will give us a pop quiz on that lesson to make sure we've retained what we learned. Whatever you ask God for He's going to make sure you're prepared to receive it. He's going to put you to the test and you never know how that test may manifest but know that He is only building you up and preparing you for greater things.
Perfect peace - Isaiah 26:3
Peace - John 16:33
Developing endurance for the journey - Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)
Trying of your faith - 1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)
Peace & Blessings!
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